Squash Merge
Software EngineeringA Git workflow that combines all commits from a branch into a single commit when merging it into another branch.
Think of it like turning a long drafting history into one final published version: cleaner to read, but less detailed about how you got there.
A squash merge is a merge strategy that condenses the entire commit history of a feature branch into one new commit on the target branch. Teams often use it to keep the main branch history cleaner and easier to scan, especially when the feature branch contains many small intermediate commits.
The tradeoff is that the individual commit structure from the branch is lost in the main branch history. That can make later debugging, archaeology, or partial reverts less precise, even though the final code change itself is preserved.
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Last updated: April 30, 2026